


When Lila Gives You Lemons

by myheadinthecoudsnotcomingdown



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Emotional Abuse, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Gabriel Agreste's A+ Parenting, Identity Reveal, Making The Best of a Bad Situation, Smart Adrien, adrienette moments, love square, smart heroes, smart marinette
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2020-06-25 23:58:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 18,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19756399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myheadinthecoudsnotcomingdown/pseuds/myheadinthecoudsnotcomingdown
Summary: Lila has made good on her promise to turn all of Marinette's friends against her and isolate her from Adrien. As a result, Marinette thinks she probably holds the record for near akumatizations. But has she found a way to turn even this situation to her advantage and use it to beat Hawkmoth?After all, when Lila gives you lemons, you make lemonade.





	1. The Sour State of Things at College Francois Dupont

Marinette ran out of the classroom holding back tears and sat on the dirty hall floor with her knees pulled into her chest. She looked at her watch, a fancy new digital one that showed the time down to the millisecond and rummaged in her school bag until she found the repurposed sketchbook and created a new entry.

Then she waited.

It wasn’t long until she saw the familiar black butterfly. She wrote something else before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. Enough practice had made it easy for her to slow her breathing and let her emotions fade. When Marinette opened her eyes again, the akuma was fluttering indecisively centimeters from her face. She swallowed her fear, then took another deep breath and exhaled, blowing the akuma away from her. The butterfly hesitated for another long second before it flew away down the hall.

Marinette picked up her sketchbook again, writing one last thing before glancing at Tikki, who had left the girl’s bag in favor of her shoulder since there was no one else in the hall. The kwami was looking at her holder with a mixture of concern and pride. They both looked at the list in Marinette’s sketchbook, the neat lines and columns filling the page and nodded to each other. Marinette smiled.

They had enough.


	2. Asking for Aid

Miss Bustier had asked Marinette to leave class for “being a disturbance” or at least that was what Lila said Marinette had been doing when the teacher returned to the classroom with a stack of copies. Her class, her “friends”, had sided with the liar rather than seeing that Lila had clearly picked the fight, so it was Marinette who had to endure the punishment. 

Marinette waited until the bell rang to go back into the classroom only to see that Lila had immediately glued herself to Adrien’s side. Ever since Lila had gotten the official Gabriel Agreste seal of approval to be Adrien’s friend, she had made good on her promise to make sure Marinette couldn’t get near the model. As far as Marinette knew, Lila still hadn’t had any luck in getting Adrien to believe her lies, but the boy couldn’t avoid her without getting in trouble with his father.

Adrien caught Marinette’s eye and gave her a look, _are you okay?_ Marinette responded by rolling her eyes and shrugged, _not really, but whatever._ They mostly communicated with looks these days, since that was all that Lila couldn’t manipulate. It had surprised Marinette how easy it was to read Adrien’s body language, even when they were across the room and he didn’t seem to have any problems reading hers. It was actually easier to communicate with him this way, since she didn’t have to worry about tripping over her words.

Her seat in physics was near the front, right beside Alya. Mrs. Mendeleev asked a question that she didn’t know the answer to and Adrien’s hand shot up in front of her.

“Fifteen meters per second.”

“Correct Adrien”

Marinette needed Adrien’s help for the next step in her plan. He was good at math, which Marinette decidedly was not, and he was one of the only people who knew that Lila was liar, which meant that he was one of the only people who Marinette could trust. Marinette hestitated a moment before texting her crush. She was getting better at not embarrassing herself around him, but it was still admittedly a work in progress.

**Marinette: You’re good at mathy stuff, right?**

_Smooth Marinette_ , she thought, _Great job not sounding like an idiot._

Adrien shuffled in his seat, pulling his phone of his back pocket and tucking it under the desk as he read her text. He glanced back at Marinette in confusion, then started typing.

**Adrien: Yeah, why?**

This was the difficult part. Her plan was dangerous and too tied up with her Ladybug side so Adrien might be in danger if he really knew what she was trying to do. She texted him her cover story instead.

**Marinette: I have this extra credit project in math, but it’s a little above my skill level and I’d really appreciate your help on it.**

That sounded normal enough, right? Nothing earth shattering, nothing that suggested that Paris’s safety could hang in the balance. Just extra credit.

Adrien once again had his phone under his desk and was typing.

**Adrien: Sure, if I can get away from Lila long enough. Meet me in the library after school?**

He glanced back at her as she read his text, giving her a grimace before turning back to the front and pretending to pay attention to the teacher. Or maybe he wasn’t pretending, it was hard to tell.

Marinette frowned. The library was too public. There was no guarantee that anyone listening wouldn’t be able to figure out what she was planning. She took a deep breath to work up her courage.

**Marinette: Actually, can we meet at my house?**


	3. A Fruitful Meeting

The akuma attack that afternoon was actually a blessing, Adrien thought as he bounded up the stairs towards Marinette’s room. He had taken advantage of the standard after-attack chaos to text his bodyguard saying he was spending the afternoon doing homework with a friend. His father would assume he meant Lila and no one would think to check until that evening.

Marinette was already waiting for him when he burst through though the trapdoor of her room.

“Sorry I’m late,” Adrien puffed, “Akuma.”

“Problem no! I mean, no problem,” Marinette seemed a little out of breath as well, “I-I just got back.”

They stood awkwardly for a moment before Adrien broke the silence, “So…extra credit?”

Marinette jumped, “Yeah!” She ran over to her desk and Adrien pulled up a chair to sit next to her. She pulled out a sketch book and opened it to a messily drawn table. Adrien read the headers: _offense, arrived, location._ There were times written in the first two columns and then a location in Paris in the third. Adrien also noticed that some lines were crossed out while a few had notes scrawled in the margins.

“Very impressive,” Adrien remarked honestly making Marinette blushed. “What are we going to do with it?”

“Well,” Marinette hesitated, “I-I, uh, was wondering, well, if it’d be possible, but if it’s not then I guess it’s not a problem. Ugh! I’m such an idiot, this was a bad idea.” That last part was to herself. Adrien put his hands on her shoulders.

“Don’t worry Marinette, I get it. It looks like you collected all this data yourself, so I’m guessing this is kind of a self-designed extra credit project?” Marinette looked relieved and nodded, “So if the teacher doesn’t have anything specific that he wants you to do, what do _you_ want to find out from this data? I mean, you wouldn’t have gone through the trouble of collecting it if you didn’t have something in mind…”

Marinette seemed to calm down a little at that and squared her shoulders. She looked at the list rather than at Adrien and took a deep breath, “I want to try and find a location. If… _something_ …left around the time in the offense column and arrived at the written location at the time in the arrived column, can we find out where these things are coming from?” Marinette risked an insecure glance at Adrien, clearly unsure if this was even possible.

For his part, Adrien thought it was an odd choice for an extra credit project, but his mind had already taken a running start, “It should be, as long as we know about how fast these things travel,” he was starting to get excited and couldn’t keep a grin off his face, “You chose a really interesting project Marinette!” Adrien looked around, “You wouldn’t happen to have a map, would you? I think it’ll make things easier if we can visualize it.”

Marinette tried jumping up out of her seat but ended up tangled up with the chair as it fell to the floor. “I’m ok!” She yelped, untangling herself from the chair and running to the corner of her room before Adrien could try to help her. She came back with a massive roll wrapped in cellophane. Adrien laughed as she unwrapped the map and spread it out on the floor.

“You’re always prepared, aren’t you Marinette?” The girl gave him a shy smile before grabbing a sheet of stickers from one of the desk drawers and turning her attention back toward the map. Adrien was already putting books at each of the corners so it would lie flat.

“I was thinking we could start by putting a sticker at each location I have written down, that will at least give us an idea of the general area we’re working with, right?”

Adrien nodded, “Good idea. I’m assuming that we can ignore the locations you’ve crossed off on your list. Those are incomplete data, right?”

Marinette nodded and handed Adrien a sheet of stickers. Adrien found it easy to work with her and it wasn’t long before they sat back to admire their handiwork. There were around thirty stickers spread out over Paris, although many seemed to be concentrated around their school. Adrien looked up the formulas he needed on his phone and they got to work on their calculations.

By the time that Adrien had explained the basic math to Marinette, she was feeling more confident and was starting to lose herself in the flow of the project. Adrien watched her plug the numbers into the formula he’d shown her and grinned as she started muttering to herself, oblivious to everything besides the problem in front of her.

“…so, if I was at the Eiffel Tower… that 11:35…and factoring in how fast the average akuma flies…”

Adrien felt his smile melt. _Akumas?_ He took a closer look at the list in Marinette’s sketchbook. Sure enough, the writing in the margins were names of various akumas that he and Ladybug had fought in the last few months. How was she collecting this data?

Marinette had finished her calculation by this point and was watching Adrien in concern.

“Adrien, are you ok? What’s wrong?”

“You’re trying to find Hawkmoth.”

Adrien felt numb. Marinette went pale and her mouth worked as she tried to come up with something to say.

“I know it’s dangerous. That’s why I didn’t want to tell you what I was doing…I didn’t want you involved any more than necessary.”

Adrien laughed to himself. Too bad Marinette didn’t know how deeply Chat Noir was already involved in the fight against Hawkmoth. If anything, he was more concerned with how deeply this involved Marinette. After all, she didn’t have superpowers to protect her like he did.

“So…” Adrien was still trying to wrap his head around the situation, “This list, you’ve been keeping track of the akumas?”

“Potential akumas,” Marinette corrected, “I payed attention to situations around me that had the potential for strong emotions and then stuck around to see if a villain appeared. The crossed-out lines mean that no akuma ever showed up, even though there was strong negative emotion.”

“And the lines without a name written by them?”

Marinette froze and Adrien waited. Finally, she screwed her eyes closed and:

“Those were ones that came after me.”

Adrien’s stomach dropped and he felt his ears start to ring. There were dozens of unlabeled entries. What was going on with Marinette?

“It’s Lila,” Marinette refused to look him in the eye, “I didn’t saw anything because, well, you’ve got enough problems with her without adding mine to the mix and I didn’t want you to worry, and I know that it’s best for her lies to just self-destruct because I really wasn’t getting anywhere trying to call her out, but she threatened me in the bathroom and said she’d turn all my friends against me and I thought that if I stopped trying to call her out, then she wouldn’t be able to do anything, but that didn’t work and I’m pretty sure Alya hates me now, not to mention the rest of the class, and she’s always hanging off you even though it’s obvious that you hate it and…”

“Whoa Marinette, slow down! Did you just say that she threatened you?”

Sometime while she’d been taking, Marinette had crossed her arms in front of her chest and had started to look very small. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have told you that. I don’t want you to worry.”

“Well too bad, Marinette, I’m your friend, that means it’s my job to worry about you. I didn’t know that things with Lila had gotten so bad.”

Marinette shrugged, “If I can find Hawkmoth, it’s all worth it. I’ve gotten really good at breathing exercises so I can calm down quickly, and if Lila’s going to make my life miserable anyway, I may as well make the best of it.”

Adrien stared at her with wide eyes, “You’re amazing Marinette.”

She blushed again before a determined glint appeared in her eyes and she smiled, “Let’s find ourselves a terrorist.”

They worked in silence the rest of the time, Marinette occasionally calling Adrien over to check her calculations. It was almost time for Adrien leave when they finally finished.

“Ok, so, just so you know, these data points are far from exact. After all, we don’t know how long after the initial stimulus Hawkmoth sends the Akuma, so all we really have is a search radius of where Hawkmoth’s lair might be, not a solid address, but it’s a solid start.”

On the map, they had charted out the akumas paths and had colored in the search radius that they had calculated. Marinette gasped and Adrien had to fight down the bile rising in his throat.

In the middle of their search radius, highlighted in red marker, was the Agreste mansion.


	4. Water We Gonna Do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated this in literally forever. You can blame a combination of Thomas Astruc for mistreating my characters and My Hero Academia for becoming my most recent hyper-fixation. But! Apparently somebody popular on tumblr reblogged something of mine and the third chapter got like 50 likes within the past 24 hours, so I was, welp, I guess people still like this story, so... here you go! Comments and Kudos, kids, they save stories.   
> In other news, I created an outline! I don't know how many chapters it's gonna be, but I do know what's gonna happen. I'm not gonna tell you guys when I'll update because then I'll feel even more guilty if I fall off the face of the earth again, but I'm glad you're all as excited to read this story as I am to write it.

“We need to tell Ladybug.” Adrien said numbly. He was purposely  _ not _ thinking about how bad this looked. Ladybug had suspected his father of being Hawkmoth before, but hadn’t given him any reason why. Could she have been right? Could the Collector have just been a red herring to throw them off the scent? Adrien pushed those thoughts from his mind, he could freak out later when he was alone with Plagg. 

Marinette nodded and began rolling up the map, “I’ve learned a few tricks from Alya, so I should be able to track down Ladybug and give her this. For now, I think this should stay between us and the heroes. Who knows what Hawkmoth would do if he knew we were doing this.”

Adrien nodded. He wasn’t worried about himself, he had superpowers, but he didn’t want Marinette getting hurt when she was only trying to help. He stood up and gathered his bag, which had been lying forgotten in the corner of the room, “So, um, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Marinette startled from where she’d apparently been lost in her own thoughts as well, “uh, yeah. School. Tomorrow. Sure.”

As Adrien left, he wondered how he was ever going to face his father.

* * *

Dinner that night was awkward. At least, more awkward than it normally was. Adrien just couldn’t unsee the myriad of butterfly symbols strategically placed throughout the house. He’d written it off as a coincidence before, but now? Now he wasn’t so sure. 

“Remember you have a photoshoot during your afternoon classes tomorrow, then a chinese lesson after fencing practice. Your father expects you to reach an advanced level by the end of the month.”

“Yes Natalie.” Did Natalie know? Was she involved somehow?

“Are you feeling well, Adrien? You’ve been playing with your food for the past five minutes.”

Adrien set down his fork, “um... I’m fine, I guess it’s just kind of been a long day and I’m not really that hungry?” He looked up at Natalie, who was scowling slightly.

“If you’re not sick, you need to finish your food Adrien. Your nutritionist would have a heart attack if you’re not getting enough calories, not to mention the legal issues.”

Adrien nodded and forced down another few bites of food. Wonderful, yet another way he was failing to live up to expectations. And wasn’t it telling that it was the nutritionist that would care, not Father or Natalie?

The rest of the meal passed in silence. Adrien finished his food and got up to go back to his room when the door opened. 

“Hello Adrien.”

“Hello Father.”

Why? Normally, Adrien would have been ecstatic to have his father come to dinner, even if it was just at the end, but after the revelations of the afternoon, it was all he could do to act natural. Of all the days for his father to talk to him, why did it have to be today?

“I was informed that you disappeared this afternoon. Do you have any explanation why?”

Adrien’s mouth went dry and his stomach sunk, “I told my bodyguard that I went over to a friend’s for homework.”

Gabriel’s glare hardened, “Ms. Rossi said she hasn’t seen you since before the akuma attack.”

Adrien didn’t know what to say. He’d actually checked? “Lila's not my only friend.”

“She’s the only one I have approved of.” Gabriel turned to leave, “You are grounded for the next week. If I hear of you going over ‘to a friend’s house’ again, you’ll be staying home from school for a week. Do you understand?”

“Yes Father.”

“Good. Sleep well, Adrien.”

Today sucked.

* * *

“Just because your house is in the search radius does not automatically mean your father is Hawkmoth. Just ‘cause the man’s a dick doesn’t mean he’s a supervillain.”

“But he might be. Just think, Plagg, is there anyone else that Ladybug has suspected? I didn’t want to believe her then, but Ladybug doesn’t do things like that without a good reason. And if Father is Hawkmoth then that means that Natalie is probably Mayura and oh my god, is Gorilla involved? I don’t know what I’m gonna do! I’m living in the same house as a supervillain!”

Plagg bopped Adrien lightly on the nose, “Stop that. This whole mathy science thing isn’t exact, especially since your girlfriend was just writing down things as she went.”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Adrien muttered, but he was freaking out anymore. 

Plagg smiled, “Whatever you say, lover boy.” Adrien glared at him, but since when had Plagg let that stop him, “Besides, even if your dad  _ is _ Hawkmoth, that wouldn’t be a recent development, meaning that you’ve been living under the same roof as the supervillain for almost a year now. The only difference is that now you  _ know _ .”

Adrien sighed, “I have no idea if that was supposed to be comforting or ominous.”

“I try.”

Adrien looked out his window at the moon, “It’s getting late, let’s go.”

Plagg swallowed the piece of cheese he was holding and let himself be sucked into the ring. Tonight was going to be interesting.

* * *

Ladybug was already waiting for him with a rolled up map slung across her back when Chat arrived at the Eiffel Tower for patrol. 

“Hey Kitty, we need to talk.”

He already knew what this was about, but he knew he wasn’t supposed to, “What? Has M ilady finally realized that I’m the cat’s meow?”

She smiled sadly, “Not tonight, Chat. Do you remember Marinette Dupain-Cheng?”

“That’s the bakery girl, right?”

Ladybug nodded, “Well, she tracked me down today. Apparently she’s been tracking akumas and she and Adrien Agreste compiled the data earlier today and, well...maybe it’s better if I show you the map. 

She stretched it out on the support beam between them and Chat studied it for a minute. Somehow it looked different than it had this afternoon. It seemed more important somehow, like it was telling him that this was his fault and his responsibility. It was probably because he was transformed, or maybe because he’d actually seen his father that day. After a few minutes, he looked up at his partner.

“We’ve suspected Gabriel Agreste of being Hawkmoth before.”

“I know,” she hugged herself, “And I know it sounds paranoid to think he might have akumatized himself to cover his tracks, but what if he did? What if we’ve really known who he was for months and just couldn’t see it?”

Chat rolled up the map and handed it back to Ladybug, “Why did we suspect him the first time? I don’t think you ever told me.”

“It was because of guardian stuff.” Chat raised an eyebrow, and Ladybug sighed, “I couldn’t tell you then because you didn’t know about the guardian yet. I’d only just found out and Tikki only took me to him because she had to. Gabriel Agreste had a book. A spellbook entirely on the miraculous and their properties written in a code known  _ only _ to the guardians.”

Chat’s eyes widened as he remembered. He’d gotten pulled from school because of that book. 

“Master Fu told me that the spellbook was lost at the same time as the Butterfly and Peacock miraculouses. He said that since all three were lost together, it was likely that whoever found the book, also found the miraculous.”

Chat nodded as he processed everything, “That...makes a lot of sense. So, if he has this book and he lives right where the akumas seem to be coming from, then…”

Ladybug nodded, “Then the evidence is piling up and there’s a strong possibility that Gabriel Agreste really is Hawkmoth.”

Chat looked out over the city, “That’s a good thing, right? I mean, now that we know who he is, we might actually be able to stop him.”

“I guess,” she fiddled with her yoyo, “It’s just, where do we go from here? Right now all we’ve got are coincidences and conjectures and that’s not nearly enough to go in guns blazing. Besides that, he’s got a son. I don’t want Adrien getting caught in the crossfire.”

Chat’s heart warmed in spite of the conversation. His lady cared! But she raised a valid point.

“Maybe we should talk to Master Fu about this. Even if he doesn’t have any advice, it’s still probably something he should know.”

“You’re right. Would you like to do it this time, Kitty?”

Chat shook his head, “It’s probably safer for you to. You already know where he lives and I’m grounded, so it’ll be harder to sneak away.” Not to mention the danger if his father realized what was going on and followed him. 

“What’d you do kitty, push all the mugs off the table?”

Chat smiled, “Something like that.”

“Well, I’ll talk to him tomorrow then. Goodnight kitty.” She threw her yoyo and swung off into the night. Chat stood watching her disappear for a few minutes, reluctant to go back to the place he called home. 

“Goodnight Milady.”


	5. All Shaken Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Master Fu has an idea on how our heroes should move forward, but neither Marinette nor Adrien likes it very much.

Things were kind of awkward between Marinette and Adrien the next day. Marinette felt like the glances they shared were _heavier_ somehow, now that they had this huge secret they shared. She wished she could be just a little happier about it. They knew who Hawkmoth might be, or at least where to look for him if it didn’t end up being Gabriel Agreste, she had already told Chat Noir and was going to tell the guardian. Her plan had worked, everything was looking up, and enduring Lila’s bullying had been worth it. Then why did she feel so down?

She looked over at Adrien, who was trying, and failing, to dodge out of the way as Lila kissed him on the cheek. Oh. right. Adrien knew that his dad might be Hawkmoth. Marinette tried to imagine her own father as a supervillain and shuddered. It had been bad enough when her dad had been akumatized, she didn’t want to think about how she would feel if he was pulling the strings of his own free will. Adrien must be feeling even worse than she was right now. 

“Hey girl! We’re going to that new place downtown that Lila recommended for lunch. Do you want to come with us?” Alya asked. 

Marinette looked up from where she was gathering her books and saw Alya, Nino, with Lila hanging off Adrien’s arm right beside them. Lila was glaring daggers at Marinette, but whether Lila was daring her to say yes or no, Marinette didn’t know and at this point honestly didn’t care. She needed to talk to Fu anyway. 

Marinette shot Adrien an apologetic glance, “Sorry guys, not today, I already have plans during lunch.”

Alya looked like she was about to say something else, but Lila beat her to it, “Oh, Marinette! I didn’t know you didn’t like that place! We were so looking forward to you coming with us! Unless, of course, there’s some _other_ reason you don’t want to come…” Lila gave the most horrendous fake pout Marinette had ever seen and she grit her teeth.

“No Lila, the reason I’m not coming is because I legitimately have things I need to do today. It has nothing to do with you or with the restaurant.” 

Marinette saw Adrien glancing around and it took her a moment to realize that he was looking for an akuma. She took a deep breath and finished putting her books away, “Have fun guys, I’ll see you this afternoon.”

Lila glared at Marinette suspiciously as she left. Something was going on between Marinette and _her_ Adrien and she needed to put a stop to it.

* * *

“Hello Marinette, I’ll be with you in just a moment.” Master Fu finished ringing out his current customer and waved to him as he left. 

“To what do I owe the pleasure Marinette? I did not believe there was an akuma today.”

“No, I don’t need another Miraculous. It’s actually, um, can we go in the back?”

Fu nodded and led Marinette into the back room of the shop. She unrolled the map that she’d run home to get and let him look at it. 

“I’ve been tracking akumas for a few months now, both those that have targeted me and those that have targeted others, and yesterday, I used this map to create a search radius. I know that we already crossed Gabriel Agreste off the list and that Hawkmoth could be anyone within this area, it’s just…what if we were wrong?”

Fu silently studied the map for a moment, “I see, this is concerning. Have you already spoken to Chat Noir about this?”

Marinette nodded, “Yes, he came to the same conclusion as I did: that The Collector might have been a red herring designed to throw us off the trail. But Master, we might have another problem if Gabriel Agreste really is Hawkmoth.”

“And what is that, Marinette?”

Marinette bit her lip, “Well, I’m not very good at math, I can pass classes, but barely, and so I asked one of my classmates for help with the calculations and…” she took a deep breath, “the classmate I asked was Adrien Agreste. He knows his dad might be Hawkmoth and what if he tells him? I want to be able to trust Adrien, but this is _huge_ and Gabriel is his _Father_ ! I can’t expect him to work against his own dad, even if it _is_ for the good of Paris!”

Fu got a pensive look on his face and was silent for a few minutes. Marinette was beginning to worry that she’d said something wrong when he finally spoke again. 

“I think,” Master Fu said slowly, “That it is time for you and Chat Noir to reveal your identities.” 

Marinette looked at the guardian like he’d grown a second head, “What? Why now in the middle of everything? It’s not any safer now than it ever has been, in fact it might be _more_ dangerous now that we have a lead on Hawkmoth’s identity. Wouldn’t it be better to wait until we’ve beaten him? ”

“You will understand in time. For now what you need to know is that now more than ever you and Chat Noir need to be truly united and able to support one another both in and out of the masks. You were always meant to be Yin and Yang, but I was afraid of what might happen if you revealed your identities, especially with Hawkmoth’s powers on the loose.”

Marinette processed this information, “Can I think about it?” 

Fu nodded, “Of course, I will reach out to Chat Noir and discuss this with him as well. Goodbye Marinette.”

She nodded and left the massage parlor, too lost in her thoughts to say anything.

* * *

The rest of the school day passed quickly and Marinette was too busy worrying about whether or not she should reveal her identity to Chat to even think about Lila. Or she was too busy, at least until Lila cornered her in the locker room after everyone else had left. 

“What’s going on between you and Adrien?”

Marinette’s eyes widened. Could Lila know that they had tracked down Hawkmoth? That would be bad, Lila had been willingly akumatized before. She might be more likely to tip the villain off than Adrien was. Marinette quickly schooled her expression into one of passive indifference. 

“Nothing’s going on, Lila, you’ve made sure of that.”

Lila smiled at the praise but leaned closer to Marinette, “Yeah right, Marinette. I’ve seen the looks you two share in class. But,” she leaned back, “I don’t know what is going on between you and Adrien, and honestly I don’t really care, just put a stop to it, or I will destroy you. Remember this, Marinette, Adrien is _mine._ ”

* * *

“Adrien, your Chinese tutor got sick at the last minute and sent a substitute.” Natalie said as she opened the door to his room, stoic as ever.

Adrien perked up. Of course, there was a chance that this was just a normal substitute, but with what he and Ladybug talked about last night, Adrien wouldn’t bet on that. 

“Hello, Adrien.” Master Fu smiled, “It’s nice to see you again. I wish it was under better circumstances.”

“Work hard Adrien, I want to hear good things from your regular tutor when he gets back.” And with that, Natalie left. Adrien bowed to the Guardian. 

“Hello Master Fu,” he said, “I’m assuming you’re here because of what Marinette Dupain-Cheng and I discovered about Hawkmoth’s identity.”

“That’s part of it, yes, but not the main reason why I’ve come.”

“What could possibly be more important than the fact that my own father might be Hawkmoth?” Adrien said bitterly.

“The time is right for you and Ladybug to reveal your identities to one another.” Fu waited for Adrien’s reaction.

“No.”

Fu’s eyes widened, “I thought you would be happy. Have you not wanted to know the girl behind the mask for quite some time now?”

Adrien didn’t look at Fu, instead focusing all his attention on scratching Plagg behind the ears, “That was before…” he scowled, “before I realized I was living under the same roof as the biggest villain in Paris and _didn’t notice._ ”

“Adrien…”

“No! I can’t tell her who I am now! What would she even think of me? I’m not even worthy to be a hero!”

“Stop that!” Plagg scratched at Adrein’s hand and he stared at his kwami in shock, “Don’t go getting it into your head that you aren’t worthy to be Chat Noir because _you are!_ If your dad is Hawkmoth that’s on _him_ not on you. And _you_ need someone to be there for you and keep you from going into a self-blame spiral.”

Adrien sighed, “That’s what I’ve got you for Plagg.”

Plagg rolled his eyes, “Yeah, I’m glad you’ve finally figured out how amazing I am, but you’re going to need more than some stinky old cat god to get you through this. It’s why you even have a partner in the first place, so you don’t have to do all the hard stuff alone.”

“But,” Adrien was quiet, “isn’t that selfish? Isn’t it wrong to need help when it’s my own fault I’m in this situation in the first place?”

Plagg growled while Fu’s eyes filled with compassion, “It’s not your fault that Hawkmoth is active.” Adrien opened his mouth to protest, but Fu held up a hand to stop him, “And even if it _was,_ it would still not be selfish to ask for help. The holders of the ladybug and black cat miraculouses are supposed to be there for each other through thick and thin, yin and yang. There is no shame in needing support from your other half.”

Adrien hesitated and Plagg flew up to look his holder in the eye, “You don’t have to do this alone, Adrien, trust us. We’re all here for you. We care about you, and so does Ladybug.”

Adrien sighed, “Ok, I’ll trust you.” He looked back to Master Fu, “I’ll talk to her tonight. I really hope you know what you’re doing.”

Fu nodded, “Good luck, Chat Noir. Now, I believe I was supposed to be teaching you something about the Chinese language, was I not?”

* * *

Meanwhile, Marinette was having a breakdown.

Tikki tried to keep up as Marinette paced back and forth in her room, talking so quickly that Tikki could really only make out every third sentence, but what she could understand didn’t sound good for her holder’s mental health. 

“Why now? What if he hates me? What if he just sees clumsy Marinette and decides I’m not fit to be ladybug? What if he tries to take my earrings and by ladybug himself? Oh no! What if he tries to flirt with me as a civilian too? What if he’s jealous of Adrien and tries to hurt him? Then we’ll never have three kids and a hamster!”

“Marinette, calm down!” Tikki interrupted, but Marinette didn’t seem to hear her

“How is this going to affect our partnership? What if we can’t trust each other anymore? What if he’s mad at me for lying to him to keep my secret identity? What if this ruins everything?!”

“Marinette!” Tikki flew in front of Marinette’s face, forcing her to stop pacing, “You’re catastrophizing again! Chat isn’t going to be mad at you, and he’s not going to hate you. You trust Chat, right?”

Marinette nodded with wide eyes.

“And you know that neither of you are perfect, right?”

She nodded again.

“So what is there to worry about? Yeah, knowing each other’s identities will probably change your dynamic, but it will bring you closer, not drive you further apart!”

Marinette sighed and let Tikki land in her cupped hands, “You’re right Tikki. Chat and I have been through a lot together and we’ve gotten through it. This won’t be any different.”

Tikki giggled, “And you’ll be able to see each other outside of akuma attacks.”

Marinette smiled and rolled her eyes, “I’m gonna go insane from all the puns.” She sighed, “Tikki, are you _sure_ this is the right time? We have so much going on now that we have a lead on Hawkmoth. What if Master Fu is wrong and this is just too much too soon?”

“I think Master Fu is making the right call, Marinette. You’ll understand soon.”

Marinette looked at her kwami suspiciously, “That’s what Master Fu said, too…”

Tikki smiled, “Maybe that’s because it’s true!”

Marinette returned the smile, “Or maybe it’s because both of you are trying to sound wiser than you really are.”

The tension broke as they both dissolved into giggles. Yeah, a reveal would change things, but they’d get through it. They always did.


	6. Sweet Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The reveal and the aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I wasn't planning on publishing this chapter for another few days, but I've written a little bit ahead and am loving reading your reactions, so... yeah! You get it early!   
> Ok, disclaimer, I know nothing about the legal systems in France and I wasn't able to find much in 30 seconds of googling, so I just based some of these on laws where I live. Sorry if it's not completely accurate, but this is just a fic and we are not bound by the laws of reality here, so deal with it. Thank you!

When Ladybug arrived for patrol, Chat Noir was already waiting for her, dangling his feet off the edge of the Eiffel tower and looking out over the lights of Paris. 

She landed next to him and sat down, “Hey.”

“Hey.”

They just sat in silence for a few minutes, neither of them looking at the other. Ladybug bit her lip. Should she say something? Master Fu had said revealing their identities was for the best but did it have to be so  _ awkward? _

Chat broke the silence, but still refused to look at Ladybug, “So… Master Fu talked to you too?”

“Yeah.”

“Um...do you wanna?”

“No. I mean, not really, but I can see it’s probably for the best. Leap of faith and all that. Right?”

“Yeah,” Chat chuckled bitterly, “I’m kinda in the same boat.” 

“Really?” Ladybug looked at him in shock, “I thought you always wanted to know who I was.”

“That was before… well, you’ll understand soon.”

Ladybug groaned, “I’m getting really sick of people telling me that. First Master Fu, then Tikki, now you! I just want to understand  _ now! _ Is that too much to ask?”

Chat laughed and Ladybug smiled, the awkward tension still there, but a little more bearable than it had been a few minutes ago. 

“Well,” Chat got up and stretched, “If we’re going to get this over with, we should probably go someplace a little more private than a national icon.”

Ladybug nodded, “Yeah, there’s a pretty secluded rooftop over in the thirteenth arrondissement, if you want to go there.”

“Lead the way, Milady.”

It didn’t take them long to reach their destination, despite stopping and waving to a few different groups that had been walking around Paris in the night. They each did a lap around the roof, looking for any eavesdroppers or cameras that could cause problems. 

Once they were certain that they wouldn’t be seen, Ladybug turned to Chat, “So, on three I guess?” 

“Yeah, sure.” Ladybug noticed him nervously playing with his ring and her eyes narrowed. 

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” 

He sighed, “No, but waiting isn’t helping either.”

“Ok, yeah.”

“Just,” Chat hesitated, “promise me that you won’t think any less of me once you know who I am?”

Ladybug’s face softened, “Oh kitty, I doubt I could ever think any less of you, unless you were, like, Chloe under the mask or something.”

Chat snickered, “That would be  _ ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!” _

“I don’t know whether to be impressed or horrified that you’re so good at that.”

“I’ve had a lot of experience...you’ll understand.”

“Seriously? Stop saying that!”

Chat laughed before sobering. Ladybug took a deep breath, “On three?”

Chat nodded.

“One, two, three!”

“Spots off!”

“Claws in!”

As the sparkles faded, Marinette looked at Adrien, who was standing in front of her nervously, “Oh”

“Yeah…”

“Well,” she said slowly, “I understand now…”

Adrien lost it and started laughing, “That’s all you can say? And of course  _ you _ would be Ladybug! Who else would think to turn a horrible situation around and track down Hawkmoth. You’re so creative, Marinette!” He frowned, “I’m not even good enough to be your friend, let alone your partner. I couldn’t even tell that my own father was a terrorist.”

Marinette crossed her arms and glared at Adrien, “ _ Might  _ be a terrorist and don’t talk about my friend that way!” Adrien looked around then looked at Marinette in confusion, “I’m talking about  _ you _ , you dork.” Adrien’s eyes widened, “You are just as amazing as I am, maybe even more so, the way that you put up with your fame even though it annoys you, your capability to be silly and calm me down when things get tough. Even your stupid puns! Adrien, we might have different strengths but that’s the way it’s supposed to be. Yin and Yang, right?” 

Adrien drew a shaky breath and blinked away tears, “Right.” He smiled hesitantly, “You and me against the world?”

Marinette took his hand and looked her kitty in the eye, “You and me against the world.”

* * *

Marinette thought that things would be hugely different at school the next day, and she didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed that nothing much had changed. She was still being isolated at every turn and none of her friends could see how they were being manipulated to exclude her and even start hating her. She was pretty sure Alya had been about to invite her to lunch again when Lila swooped in and whispered something in the reporter’s ear. Alya had gotten a disappointed look on her face when she glanced at Marinette, but then had walked away without saying anything. Marinette had eaten lunch alone. Again. 

Meanwhile, Adrien was still being held prisoner by Lila. Every time he tried to come talk to Marinette or even just go someplace on his own, Lila was there, hanging off his arm and fake laughing in that high-pitched way that made Marinette cringe. Lila was being even more physical than usual today, probably to counteract whatever she  _ thought _ was going on between Marinette and Adrien. Adrien gave Marinette a helpless look as he walked into the classroom with Lila, Alya, and Nino after lunch,  _ I’m sorry. _

She shook her head and smiled,  _ It’s ok, it’s not your fault. _

At least now she knew why it was so easy to read Adrien’s body language. Alya had posted a theory once that Ladybug and Chat Noir were telepathic because of how easily they understood one another, even in the midst of battle. Marinette chuckled to herself, she was pretty sure she would literally die of embarrassment if Adrien could hear her thoughts. No, they’ve just had  _ a lot  _ of practice. 

Adrien grimaced slightly as Lila kissed him on the cheek, then pulled a face and stuck his tongue out at Marinette when no one was looking. She giggled quietly behind her hand.  _ Good luck, Lila _ , she thought,  _ no one’s ever taking my silly kitty away from me.  _

They would get through this. Marinette knew they would. They were Ladybug and Chat Noir, Marinette Dupan-Cheng and Adrien Agreste, yin and yang, and they would always be there for each other. They would get through this, no matter what happens, because  _ that’s what they do. _ That’s what they’ve always done, and Marinette didn’t see any reason for them to stop now. 

Marinette tuned out Miss Bustier as she started to drone on about sixteenth century literature and pulled out her phone. There had been something on her mind ever since she and Adrien had finished their map. The look in his eyes when he had realized that his dad might be Hawkmoth wasn’t something Marinette ever wanted to see again. Even worse, the hurt and guilt she heard when he talked after they’d revealed their identities the night before. Marinette hoped they were wrong about Gabriel, if only so that Adrien didn’t have to deal with those feelings ever again.

If Gabriel Agreste was Hawkmoth, Marinette wanted to get Adrien out of that house as soon as possible. Having two warring miraculous holders under the same roof was a recipe for disaster, especially when one was willing to tear Paris apart to get what he wanted. And if and when Gabriel gets arrested...Marinette didn’t want her kitty to be sent away. She knew that Adrien wasn’t thinking about that, he would be willing to do whatever it took to put Hawkmoth behind bars, even if it meant risking his own happiness, but Marinette didn’t want to lose him. 

_ Emancipation laws in Paris _

Marinette skimmed through the results of her search, clicking on various links and reading the various laws on child rights. She felt her heart sink as her brain put together what she could understand out of the legal jargon. Proof of financial means wasn’t a problem, even if he stopped modeling for his father, Adrien had his savings and other companies would jump to have him as a model. Even a secure place to live wouldn’t be difficult, since he would always be welcome at her place or even Nino’s. What was a problem was the age. 

_ 16 _

She briefly considered waiting to capture Hawkmoth until Adrien could legally emancipate himself before tossing the idea out the window. Even if it was the only option, Adrien would never agree to it. Paris had already suffered enough, and it was their job as heroes to save it as soon as possible. It was why they had been chosen. 

Marinette resisted the urge to groan in frustration and hit her head against the desk. Either would draw far too much attention when she was supposed to be listening to the lecture. She looked hard at the back of Adrien’s head in front of her. What was she supposed to do? She was supposed to protect Paris, but she also had to protect her partner. Ugh. Why did life have to be so hard?

She half listened to the lecture for a few minutes, doodling in the margins of her notebook and jotting down a few things that sounded important, all while her mind continued to work on the real problem. How could she make sure Adrien would be safe and taken care of, even if Gabriel was arrested?

She paused and chewed her lip as an idea occurred to her. She glanced one last time at the back of Adrien’s head before unlocking her phone again and opening up a new search.

_ Foster laws in France  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Years everyone! I went to a really cool fantasy theme park near my home last night and I even won a raffle for like the first time in my life. It was awesome, but cold. Really cold.


	7. Sugar, Spice, and Surveillance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel Agreste might be Hawkmoth, but more evidence is needed. The only question now is how to gather it.

“What if we set up cameras?”

Marinette was pinching herself and trying not to imagine Marinette-of-a-week-ago’s reaction to _the Adrien Agreste_ laying on her bed, repeatedly throwing a ball of yarn up in the air like it was no big deal. 

“Um… I mean, that could work, but doesn’t your dad’s place already have security cameras?”

Adrien paused, then started throwing his yarn ball again, “I mean, yeah, that’s how I got the idea. He apparently has one in his office and that’s how he knew I stole the spell book, but it’s not like I have access to any of them. Also, I’m assuming he doesn’t have cameras anywhere that he’d transform, because my bodyguard is probably one of the biggest hero fanboys I’ve ever met outside of Alya, and I’m going to assume for my sanity that he probably doesn’t know.”

“Ok, so we’d need to get cameras and set them up in places your dad wouldn’t notice and make sure we have access to the feed. We should probably also check with the police force to see if we need warrants for any of this… we don’t want to go through all this and then not have our evidence be admissible in court.”

Adrien propped himself up on his elbow and looked down at her, “I hadn’t even thought about that. They’re not going to tell him, are they?”

Marinette shrugged and started erasing a line that wasn’t quite where she wanted it, “I mean, if we explain, then they shouldn’t. There’s also the possibility that they might not even ask who exactly we’re investigating. They tend to give us pretty much free reign to do what we need to, most of the time.”

Adrien hummed in agreement and layed back down, “I wish it was easier to just see if he or Natalie ever disappear during akuma attacks. If I actually saw Father more than once a month, I’d just know and then we wouldn’t have to do this whole stupid song and dance routine to find out if he’s a supervillain.”

“It’s his fault for being a bad father, Adrien, not yours.”

“I _know_ that, it’s just,” he groaned, “it just doesn’t feel like it sometimes.”

“Marinette! Your father just made a batch of cinnamon rolls, do you want any?” Sabine poked her head into Marinette’s room and both kids looked at her with wide eyes, “Oh…”

“What is it Sabine, what’s wrong… oh.” Tom’s head joined Sabine’s, “Adrien, I didn’t know you were here...wait, how did you get in? You would’ve had to come past us to get up here.”

Marinette and Adrien both glanced at the skylight, then looked at each other in panic, trying to come up with any reasonable explanation. It wasn’t like they could just say, _oh, Adrien is just Chat Noir and he sneaked out of his father’s house because he might be Hawkmoth and keeps him locked up so that he never sees any of his friends and he came in through the roof because honestly neither of us remembered that was weird for anyone who wasn’t a superhero._

Unfortunately, that brief glance was enough for Marinette’s parents, “You do know you could have come in through the front door...right?” Sabine said hesitantly. 

Tom nodded in agreement, “We don’t mind Marinette’s friends coming over, you don’t have to sneak around.”

Marinette thought quickly, “Adrien doesn’t want his dad to know he’s here,” she blurted out. “His dad’s really strict and doesn’t let him out of the house. And since he’s kinda famous, if he came in through the front door, then his fans would see him and they’d tweet about it and...” she trailed off as her parents looked at Adrien sympathetically. 

“It’s really no trouble,” Adrien said quickly, “I have a climbing wall in my room and stuff so I’m used to high places.” Her parents didn’t look convinced. “It’s fun?” He added hesitantly.

“O-ok? Well, um,” Sabine looked at Tom, who nodded, “if you’re going to be coming in through the roof then we need to know when you’re here and the trap door stays _unlocked._ Do you hear me?” 

Both kids’ faces erupted into identical shades of scarlet.

“Mamman!” Marinette yelled as she buried her face in her hands, “It’s not like that!”

Adrien just opened and closed his mouth, unable to come up with a single word in his defense.

Sabine smiled mischievously, “Well, then, can I get you kids some cinnamon rolls?” 

She and Tom chuckled as they went back downstairs, they were going to have so much fun teasing Marinette about this.

* * *

“So, you want a warrant to place cameras in places you think Hawkmoth might be?”

Ladybug and Chat Noir looked at each other and nodded. Officer Raincomprix hummed, “Well, that shouldn’t be a problem. You _are_ superheroes, and that gives you a certain measure of authority. I think…” He ruffled through some files in the cabinet by his desk, “Ah, here it is! Yes, when you two first came on the scene, lawmakers were concerned about how you were going to interact with law enforcement, and the mayor decided it was best to not even bother. According to this law, you two have carte blanche to do whatever is necessary to find Hawkmoth and bring him to justice. It seems a little excessive to me, but those are the Mayor’s orders. You being superheroes is enough of a warrant, apparently, just keep us informed and let us know when it’s time to arrest the scumbag.”

“So, we don’t need to tell you where we’re putting up cameras, just that we’re putting them up?”

Officer Raincomprix nodded, “That’s right. Honestly, I’m just glad you two have a solid lead to find the guy. I’m excited for this nightmare to finally be over.”

Ladybug nodded, “Us too. Thanks for your help!”

The heroes left the police station and vaulted up to the rooftops, running along until they reached their favorite spot on the Eiffel tower. 

“Well,” Chat said, “that was easy.”

“Yeah…” Ladybug played with her yoyo, “Although I’m kinda uncomfortable with just how much power they gave us. I mean, what if Volpina had actually convinced Paris she was a superhero? What would _she_ have done? And they didn’t even tell us!”

Chat thought for a moment, “Volpina probably wouldn’t have used it to find Hawkmoth, which is the condition of the law in the first place. But, yeah, on the one hand I agree with you that it’s too much power for two random kids in masks, but on the other, I’m happy that they trust us so much, and it really does make this whole situation a lot easier. So...I’m torn, but I guess it doesn’t really matter. The mayor gave us this freedom for a reason, we may as well use it.”

Ladybug sighed, “I guess you’re right…”

Chat smiled, “Of course I am, Bugaboo! So now that we know we aren’t breaking any laws, how are we going to do this? Natalie tracks my purchases, so it’s probably better if you’re the one to actually buy the cameras, but I can probably pay for them.”

“What’s the difference between paying and actually buying them yourself?”

Chat rubbed the back of his neck, “Well, I’ve got a decent cash fund that Natalie doesn’t know about, I’ve been taking a little bit out of my modeling paychecks for years to build it up. I normally use it to buy Plagg’s cheese, but this is a worthy cause too.”

“Kitty...I can’t ask you to do that…that’s _your_ money…”

“Well, right now, it’s kinda more like Plagg’s money, and we can consider this payback for all the times he left cheese crumbs in my sock drawer!”

Ladybug rolled her eyes, “Kitty…”

Chat folded his arms and gave her a grin, “Too late! I’m paying. I’ll bring the cash by sometime when I can sneak out.”

Ladybug sighed, knowing that nothing was going to change his mind now, “Fine, where are we going to put the cameras.”

“The mansion.”

Ladybug shot Chat a glare, only to be met with a mischievous grin. He kept smiling, but held up his hands in mock surrender, “Kidding! But no, we should definitely put one in Father’s office, and maybe in the kitchen too, I doubt he gets food for his kwami, but Natalie probably gets enough food for the two.”

“Good idea...and we’ll need to make sure we don’t get caught putting them up.”

“Easy, we’ll just have Plagg and Tikki do it for us!”

“Oh really?” Ladybug put her hands on her hips, “And how are you going to explain to your bodyguard randomly floating cameras?”

“Ah,” Chat thought for a moment, “Hmm...I’m pretty sure that Gorilla would show me the camera feeds for the house if I asked. As long as I only do it once, it shouldn’t be too suspicious. Then I can figure out where there are blindspots and we can use those so Plagg and Tikki won’t be seen flying with our cameras!”

* * *

“...and I think it’d be interesting to know more about what goes into protecting me, you know?”

Adrien shifted awkwardly as his bodyguard glared at him. Or maybe it wasn’t so much of a glare as an appraising look and Adrien was just imagining it because the gorilla always looked angry. Either way, there was a long moment of silence in which Adrien was sure that his plan wouldn’t work and they’d have to come up with another way to find the camera's blindspots before his bodyguard grunted and started down the hall. When Adrien didn’t follow, the gorilla turned to look at him and jerked his head, indicating for him to follow and Adrien scrambled to catch up. 

When they reached the control room, there was a wall of monitors, each showing different rooms of the mansion. The gorilla sat in the chair and started scanning the camera feeds with well practiced eyes as Adrien stood behind him and looked at each camera feed critically, memorizing what was shown and comparing it with the mental maps he had of the mansion. Adrien smiled, it would be pretty easy for Plagg and Tikki to avoid any cameras with this information. Most of the time, as long as they stayed close to the walls, they’d be fine. 

Adrien’s eyebrows knit together as he scanned over the camera feeds again, “Isn’t there a camera in Father’s office?”

The gorilla looked at him and shook his head before turning back to the monitors. Adrien did the same, but wasn’t really seeing the feeds. 

“So there aren’t any other cameras in the house that aren’t shown here?” 

The gorilla shook his head again and Adrien frowned. There _was_ a camera in that office, his father had used it to prove that Adrien had stolen the spellbook.

So why didn’t the gorilla have access to it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you guys know how hard it is to come up with themed lemonade puns every chapter? I am not naturally good at puns and, unlike cat puns, there's not just a website you can go to and get unlimited puns. Every chapter, I kick myself for making that decision, but then sigh and realize that I still love my silly punny titles.


	8. Juiced Setting Things Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to set up the cameras.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the pun resources, guys! Y'all are amazing!

Marinette hardly glanced up from her literature homework when she heard Chat Noir fall through her skylight. 

“Ugh! Why do we have to transform to visit your girlfriend? It’s so much work!”

“She’s not my girlfriend, Plagg.” Adrien groaned. Marinette kept her eyes on her book in an attempt to hide her blush and tried to ignore the way her heart dropped. Adrien had too much to worry about right now to throw her crush into the mix. 

“Whatever, just give me my cheese.” Adrien threw a chunk of camembert toward his kwami, who caught it and went to sit with Tikki on the shelf. Adrien himself sprawled on the chaise. 

“Sorry about him, I’m pretty sure he’s a gremlin disguised as a cat. He literally exists to make my life miserable.”

“Not a problem, Adrien, he  _ is _ the embodiment to destruction.”

“The destruction of my sanity.”

Marinette giggled, “So, is there a reason for this visit, or did you just miss me?”

Adrien smiled, “Always, Milady.” He sat up, “But I actually do have something for you.” He pulled a thick envelope from his back pocket and handed it to her with a bow and a flourish, “Cash for cameras, Milady.”

Marinette took the envelope and her eyes widened when she saw how much was inside, “Adrien! This is way too much!”

“Payback for Plagg being a gremlin, remember?” He insisted, “And besides, I needed to make sure you had enough to get ones that have audio and can automatically stream to your computer. It’d be too risky to have to physically retrieve the camera every time we want to look at the feed.”

Marinette pouted but put the envelope in her purse, “I guess you have a point kitty. I’m just not used to handling this much money.” She took a deep breath, “Mamman and Papa said dinner would be ready soon. Would you like any?”

Adrien perked up, “Are you sure it’s alright?”

Marinette giggled and booped him on the nose, “Of course I’m sure! Like Mamman and Papa said, you’re always welcome here. Besides, I’m pretty sure they show love through food. You just have to promise not to get in a pun war with Papa.”

Adrien’s eyes twinkled, “No promises.”

* * *

“And these will automatically stream to my computer?”

The salesperson nodded, “Yep, you’ll just need to follow the instructions in the handbook before placing the cameras. You do need to be careful about battery life if you’re trying to do time lapses, though. The battery will only last about three weeks before you need to charge it.”

Marinette nodded, there were akumas every few days, so three weeks should be more than enough time to get what they needed.

“Why did you say you wanted these again? You’re not trying to spy on the boy you like, are you?” The salesperson teased.

Marinette blushed and flailed her arms, “No bae! I mean, no way! The boy I like’s a model anyway, so I have more than enough pictures of him…” She trailed off, realizing she wasn’t helping her case at all, “I’m a designer, so I need good quality cameras to make videos of my designs and show that they’re wearable and comfortable.”

The salesperson laughed and rang her up, “Don’t worry, I was just giving you a hard time. Good luck with your designing, I hope it goes well!”

Marinette nodded and thought of their plan, “I hope so too.”

* * *

It was after sunset when Ladybug knocked on Adrien’s window. He hurried to let her in and she transformed as she landed on the floor. 

“Hey kitty.” Marinette said shyly.

Adrien blushed. He went to her room all the time, why was it such a big deal that she was in his room. Oh no, Ladybug was in his room!

“U-uh, h-hi Milady.” Adrien suddenly realized he was in his pajamas and he tried to discreetly pull at the hem of his shorts to make the longer, “Fancy seeing you here.”

They were interrupted by Plagg’s laughter, “Oh my goodness! You two are so awkward! I’m gonna fall out of the air laughing!”

“Plagg!” Tikki flew out of Marinette’s purse and hit Plagg over the head, “I’m sorry, all these milenia and he still hasn’t learned  _ manners!” _

“Manners are boring, sugarcube!” Plagg whined. 

Marinette rolled her eyes and went to sit on the couch. For the first time, Adrien noticed that she was carrying a plain black backpack. She slung it off her shoulder and opened it. 

“So, I was able to buy five cameras. They have both visual and audio and I already took the liberty of setting them up so they’ll sync the feed to my computer. I figured we should use mine because if Natalie tracks your purchases, she probably tracks your computer usage too, right?” Adrien nodded, “So yeah, now you can just tell us where the blindspots are and we can have Plagg and Tikki set these up!”

Plagg groaned, “You’re making me work? At this time of night? This is animal cruelty!”

Tikki hit him over the head again, “Shut up and stop being such a lazy bum, Plagg!”

Adrien described where the blind spots were before handing the kwamis four of the cameras, “Put on in Father’s office, one in his room, one in Natalie’s room, and the last will go in the kitchen. We’ll keep the fifth camera in reserve, just in case we think of another location or one breaks.”

The kwamis nodded and took two cameras each. Adrien cracked open his door and the two flew out. They went to the kitchen first, since that would probably be the easiest camera to place. They stayed close to the walls and out of sight from both humans and cameras. Plagg took one of Tikki’s cameras, letting her have both hands free to screw the camera into the wall. From where it was, there was an excellent view of the pantry, so they should be able to see any floating food from snacking kwamis. 

Tikki took back her other camera and the two flew to Natalie’s room. Plagg nodded to Tikki, who concentrated and phased through the wall. It took concentration to phase an object with her, so they tried not to do it often, but they couldn’t wait for Natalie to open the door and risk her seeing them. She placed the camera in the corner where there were enough shadows to hide it and it had a good view of the room before phasing back out of the room. 

Plagg handed her one of the remaining cameras so they both had one, then they flew to Gabriel’s room. This time it was Plagg’s turn to phase through the wall and fix the camera. He ended up setting it half-hidden behind a fake tree, since there wouldn’t be enough shadows to hid it on the ceiling. He froze when he heard the door open and Gabriel walked in. 

Gabriel simply walked past Plagg’s hiding place and strode over to the closet, taking off his garish tie. Plagg shuddered and phased through the wall behind him to meet back up with Tikki. He didn’t need to see  _ that. _

Finally, it was time to place the camera in Gabriel’s office. Thankfully, he was in his room, so they wouldn’t have to worry about running into him, but the kwami’s were still nervous. They knew there were cameras in this room, but Adrien hadn’t been able to see the feed and so hadn’t been able to figure out the blindspots. He thought he remembered that the feed didn’t show the ceiling, but there was no way to know if there were other cameras that did. 

Tikki let her power course through her, giving her just a little more luck before the two phased into the office and flew near the ceiling. The portrait of Adrien’s mother seemed to watch them conspiratorially, as if asking them what they were doing. They hurried and mounted the camera in one of the corners, making sure it was in the shadow of the decorative moulding the lined the room, then flew straight back to Adrien’s room.

“Did everything go alright?” Adrien asked nervously. 

Tikki nodded, “No one saw us and all the cameras are hidden and secure.”

Adrien and Marinette sighed in relief. 

“So, I guess now’s the hard part.” Marinette said, “Now we have to wait.”

* * *

“Adrien,” Natalie looked back at him in the rearview mirror from the front passenger seat, “You’ve been texting that bakery girl more often.”

Adrien froze, “Marinette?” He asked. Natalie nodded. 

Adrien’s mind was whirling. He knew Father and Natalie were monitoring his computer, but they had spyware on his phone too? He’d have to tell Marinette to be careful what they said over text. They’d probably have to do all Hawkmoth communication over their miraculous phones from now on, not that they’d ever texted about that much anyway.

“Your father is concerned. We want to make sure you have... _ positive _ influences. Why have you been texting this girl?”

Adrien swallowed, “I just think she’s really nice. She’s one of my friends and a really talented designer.” He added the last part hoping that it might convince his father. He waited with baited breath as Natalie’s expression soured.

“There are a lot of nice people in the world Adrien, and most are simply pretending because they want something from you. This girl is probably planning on using you to further her own goals in the fasion industry.”

Adrien’s heart sunk, what could he say to convince her?

“Marinette isn’t like that! I’ve known her for a while now and she’s really nice to everyone, even people like Mr. Ramier who can’t give her anything back. She’s smart and strong and confident. She always stands up for herself and others and her friends are the most important thing in the world to her…”

He trailed off when he noticed Natalie’s expression had softened, “Adrien, be honest with me. Do you  _ like _ this girl?”

Adriend hesitated. He’d always loved Ladybug, but he’d always insisted Marinette was just a friend. Of course he  _ liked _ her, but she didn’t feel the same way. At the same time, would telling Natalie mean he was allowed to keep texting Marinette, or would she think she was some gold digger who was trying to sink her claws in him? He took another look at Natalie’s expression and took a deep breath.

“Yeah, I think I do.”

Natalie nodded and turned back to her tablet, signaling that the conversation was over. Adrien let out the breath he’d been holding and looked out the window. It wasn’t necessarily approval, but Adrien decided that Natalie ignoring the issue was the best he could hope for. 


	9. Too Much to Stand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Important conversations and an akuma attack!

It had been a few days since they set up the cameras, and almost a week since the last akuma attack and both Marinette and Adrien were getting frustrated by the lack of progress. Sure, they were noticing patterns in Gabriel’s behavior, but none of them were directly related to Hawkmoth. Currently, the two were munching on chocolate chip cookies that Marinette’s parents had insisted they eat and working on literature homework while half watching the camera feeds.

Marinette watched as Natalie put her arms around Gabriel like she always seemed to do when he was stressed. 

“Is your dad dating Natalie?” She asked suddenly. 

Adrien shrugged, “he insists it isn’t like that, but I think they should just get together already. It’s not like Mother is coming back anytime soon. I mean, she’s been missing long enough that she’s been legally declared dead, so…”

Marinette looked at him, “It doesn’t bother you?” 

Adrien tilted his head slightly, “What, Mother being gone or Father moving on?” 

Marinette bit her lip, “I don’t know? Either, Both.”

Adrien thought about that for a minute, “Well, I miss her, and it still hurts sometimes, but I guess I’ve kinda moved on?” His eyes widened. “Oh my goodness that sounds so bad, like it was a bad breakup instead of one of my parents disappearing.” 

He dragged both hands down his face, then looked at Marinette again, “I’ve mourned her, I guess. That sounds a little bit better.” he exhaled heavily, “I don’t mind father moving on. In fact, I think it’d probably be good for him. Healthy. I can tell he still misses mom, but I mean, he shouldn’t be miserable forever. I don’t think mom would want that anyway… I think she’d want him to be happy, even if she couldn’t be there for him.” 

They sit in silence for a little while, reading the book Miss Bustier had assigned, but still mulling over the conversation in their minds. 

Suddenly, Adrien’s eyes widened, “Oh no. what if he’s trying to bring her back?” 

“What?” Marinette’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion, “What do you mean bring her back?”

Adrien looked at her earnestly, “If my father is hawkmoth, why does he want our miraculous so bad? I mean, he’s never mentioned world domination or anything like that before, but you said if our miraculous are combined, the wearer can make a wish, right?”

“Yeah…”

“So what if he’s going to wish mom was still alive?” 

Marinette’s eyes widened and she nodded numbly, “That...would make a lot of sense.” 

“I know, right?”Adrien jumped up, “Of course he’d want to bring Mom back!” 

Marinette looked at him hesitantly, “But...Adrien...it’s not that simple, the wish comes with a price, you can’t get something for nothing and to bring back a human life…” 

Adrien sat down heavily on the chaise as the implication hit him, “A life would have to be taken. My dad is planning murder.”

Marinette wanted to lie. She wanted to say that maybe his father didn’t know the cost, but the truth was that if he’d somehow learned about the wish, he definitely knew what that wish would cost. She sat down beside him and put her arm around his shoulders, “If it’s really him, then, yeah, probably.” She sighed, “We could just be chasing shadows, but if he is Hawkmoth, it wouldn’t be the first time he’s killed someone. People have died during akuma attacks before.” 

Adrien swallowed, “If it wasn’t for your cure, Hawkmoth would probably be one of the most dangerous mass murderers in history… didn’t they estimate that Siren alone killed over half of Paris?”

Marinette nodded, “Hawkmoth isn’t afraid to manipulate or even kill to get what he wants. It’s also safe to say that even if we were to try to reason with him, he’s too far gone to listen.”

Adrien drew a shaky breath, “We have to catch him.”

Marinette held him a little tighter, “We will kitty, I promise.”

* * *

Lila put on her best doe eyes as she pulled out her phone to show Alya the pictures, “Isn’t it just terrible Alya! The famous designer Jules Bisset incorporates a hidden signature into his work and has for decades. I can’t believe that Marinette would stoop so low as to steal another designer’s idea!”

Alya was practically vibrating in fury, “And then she got after Chloe for doing the same thing she did herself! I can’t believe that girl! She was just trying to impress Mr. Agreste to get to Adrien!”

Lila hid her smirk under a look of fake pity, “I’m so sorry, Alya. It’s so terrible when people disappoint you.”

She discreetly looked around the classroom and reveled in the outraged looks of her classmates. She’d made sure to have this conversation when everyone  _ but _ Marinette and Adrien were around to listen in, knowing that Alya wasn’t capable of being quiet, especially when her emotions got the better of her. After this, Marinette’s reputation would be hanging by a thread and she wouldn’t have any choice but to stay away from Adrien. 

Right on cue, Marinette walked in the door, followed by Adrien. He’d taken to waiting for her by the front doors the last few days, a fact that annoyed Lila to no end, but worked well for her plan today. Afterall, what better way to show that Marinette was stealing design ideas to get closer to Adrien than to let her walk into class with the boy. 

“I can’t believe you!” Alya yelled, “How are you not ashamed of yourself?”

Marinette’s eyes widened in shock and confusion while Adrien immediately glared at Lila, “What did you do?” He said through gritted teeth. 

“I just told them how Marinette stole the idea of signing her work from another designer,” Lila said innocently, “Why are you mad at me for telling the truth?”

“I can’t believe you were so mad at Chloe for stealing your hat design when you were stealing ideas all along!” Alya seethed. 

“Yeah, not cool dude.” Nino shook his head. 

“I-I didn’t!” Marinette stuttered out, “I swear, I’ve been inspired by other designers, but I’ve never  _ stolen  _ from them!”

Adrien clenched his fists, “A lot of designers sign their work! That’s like saying everyone who’s ever designed with lace stole it from the guy who did it first!”

“Settle down, class,” Miss Bustier said as she walked in, “did everyone do the reading last night?”

Adrien was in the front row, so he couldn’t see it, but he could practically  _ feel _ all the glares and hatred directed at Marinette for the next hour. He hated it! How could these idiots not realize how amazing Marinette was? How were they falling hook, line, and sinker for an obvious liar. It just wasn’t fair! How dare they treat Marinette like that?

As soon as class was over, Marinette walked calmly out of the room for break. Adrien followed her to an empty classroom a few hallways over. He closed the door behind them and went to hug her. 

“Are you ok?”

She nodded, “I’m used to it by now.”

Adrien saw red, “You shouldn’t have to be  _ used to it _ !” he yelled. He decreased his volume when Marinette flinched, “It’s just you’re amazing and no one gets to treat my lady like this. You don’t deserve any of this!”

Marinette got a scared look on her face and Adrien looked behind him, only to rear back when he saw the purple butterfly. He shoved Marinette away, mind racing as he considered if it was possible to somehow destroy the butterfly before it reached her, but to his surprise, the butterfly didn’t change course, instead continuing it’s flight directly toward him.

“Adrien, it’s going for you! You need to calm down!”

Adrein was hyperventilating. Was he really about to be akumatized?

“Trust me, Kitty! Take a deep breath in with me, then out. In, out!”

Adrien followed her voice on instinct, letting her guide him through a breathing exercise as the akuma stopped advancing, then slowly started fluttering away. As soon as it was gone, Adrien collapsed as soon as it was gone and Marinette ran to him and threw her arms around him. 

“Hey, kitty,” She said softly as she wiped a few tears from his cheeks, “It’s gonna be ok. You did it.”

They sat there for a few minutes until a loud alarm sounded, “Akuma Alert. Akuma Alert. Please evacuate the building. Ladybug and Chat Noir are expected to resolve the situation shortly.”

“Guess that’s our cue, kitty.” Marinette gave him a small smile and he nodded and transformed. 

Honestly, he didn’t know how Marinette had been doing this for months. He didn’t want to fight an akuma right now. 

//

Alya was already filming when Ladybug and Chat Noir arrived, “Hey lady bloggers! It seems like Hawkmoth is really scraping the bottom of the barrel with this one. It appears that this akuma  _ really _ wants to tie everyone’s shoelaces together.”

“Be careful, Alya!” Chat Noir said with a strained smile, “We wouldn’t want you to  _ trip us up! _ ”

Ladybug rolled her eyes, “Seriously, Chat? Shouldn’t you be more worried about how we’re going to  _ tie this up? _ ”

Chat gasped in delight, “Milady! I thought you were too straight-laced _ for puns! _ ”

“Ladybug, Chat Noir! I am Lacey! Give me your miraculouses or I will tie your shoelaces together!”

Both heroes looked down at their feet, then back at the akuma.

“Yeah,” Chat said slowly, “I think you’re gonna need to find a different threat.”

Ladybug giggled, “Silly kitty!”

He raised his hands in surrender, “Hey, I’m not the one who forgot neither of us have shoelaces!”

“Enough!” Lacey shot a series of shoe laces at them like whips, but the heroes just dodged out of the way. 

“The akuma’s in her shoelaces?” Chat asked.

Ladybug shrugged, “Probably, but it’ll be difficult to get close enough to destroy them without getting grabbed.”

He smiled at her, “Then I guess I better  _ aglet  _ you take care of it!”

Ladybug groaned and dodged another attack from the akuma’s shoelaces before throwing her yoyo in the air, “Lucky Charm!”

A roll of fly tape dropped into her hands and she looked around. She grabbed one end of the tape and threw the main roll to Chat.

“Kitty! Pretend you’re chasing a laser pointer!”

“Hey!” Chat cried indignantly, but started running around at random, pulling out more and more of the tape as he did so. Every time Lacey tried to catch him in her shoelaces, he’d dodge at the last minute and the laces would get caught on the tape. Within minutes, the shoelaces were nothing more than a tangled mess. 

“Well, I guess you’re all  _ tied up _ .” Chat smirked at Ladybug, who smiled and rolled her eyes. “Cataclysm!” The shoelaces dissolved away into nothing and ladybug caught the butterfly as it tried to fly away.

“No more evil doing for you, little akuma!” She smiled and waved, “Bye bye, little butterfly!”

Chat smiled widely at her and held out a fist, “Pound it!”

“Ladybug! Chat Noir!” Alya yelled, “Would you mind answering a few questions?”

Chat bristled, but Ladybug just placed a hand on his shoulder, “Sure, we still have a few minutes before we change back.”

“Ok!” Alya held her phone out in front of her,.“So it seemed like you two were super in sync today! Is there any reason for that?”

Ladybug and Chat looked at each other. The real reason was because they’d finally revealed their identities, but they couldn’t say that. 

“Well, let’s just say we’ve been getting to know each other better lately.” Chat wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and Ladybug cuffed him over the head as he laughed. 

Alya’s eyes took on a wicked gleam, “Does this mean that LadyNoir is closer to being a reality?”

Ladybug sighed, “I’m not going to say it’s never going to happen, but for right now, our focus is on finding Hawkmoth and bringing him to justice. Now if you’ll excuse us, it’s time for us to leave.”

She grabbed Chat by the hand, who looked like he was over the moon, and they both vaulted away. Alya turned her camera around so her viewers could see her face, “There you have it guys!” She said with a wide smile, “You heard it here first! Ladybug is totally open to a relationship with Chat Noir. Here’s hoping they catch Hawkmoth soon so they can  _ get together already! _ This is the Ladyblogger, signing off!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I didn't disappear for months this time!  
> That being said, I thought I'd share  my tumblr! 


	10. Bitter Revelations

Adrien snuck out the night of the akuma attack and made his way to Marinettes. He peeked into her room to make sure her parents weren’t there before dropping down onto the bed and detransforming. He shot a quick text to Tom that he’d arrived and jumped off her bed, landing in a crouch on the floor below. 

Marinette shook her head, “You know, not every movement needs to be a production.”

Adrien smiled, “But it’s so much more  _ fun _ that way, princess!”

Marinette sighed, but smiled, “So are you ready to look at the camera feeds from this morning?”

He looked at her, “You haven’t already looked at them?”

She shook her head and played with her hands, refusing to meet his eyes, “I wanted to wait for you. You know, just in case…”

He exhaled slowly, “Yeah. I get it. Let’s just get this over with. It’s the not knowing that’s killing me.”

Marinette nodded and pulled up the camera feeds, “The akuma showed up around 10:00, so we should go back about a half hour? See what happens?”

She synced it up and started playing the videos at double speed from about 9:30 that morning. She slowed them down to normal speed when she saw Gabriel enter his office at about 9:40. Instead of sitting down at his desk to design, he went to stand in front of the large portrait of Adrein’s mother. 

“That’s where the safe with the spell book was, right?” Marinette asked. Adrein nodded. 

Gabriel pressed a few panels in the painting, activating a hidden elevator beneath his feet. Marinette looked to Adrien, who simply held up his hands, “Hey, don’t look at me, I had no idea that was there!” 

The floor closed again as soon as Gabriel was gone and they waited. According to the video live-streamed to the ladyblog, Marinette had finally cleansed the Akuma around 10:45, so they played the video at double speed until a few minutes before then. At 10:50, Gabriel finally reappeared in his office. He loosened his tie slightly and sat down heavily at his desk with his head in his hands. 

Natalie came in almost immediately and looked at him softly, “It didn’t work?” 

“You already know it didn’t work!” Gabriel snapped. “It never works.” 

Natalie went to stand behind him and put her arms around his chest, leaning her head on his shoulder, “You just need to keep trying, Gabriel. Someday Ladybug and Chat Noir will slip up and that’s when you’ll get them. You’re smart and capable and motivated by love, so it’s only a matter of time before you get the miraculous.” She smiled slightly and tightened her hug, “I believe in you.”

Gabriel sighed and leaned his head over to rest on Natalie’s, “Thank you, Natalie, I don’t know what I would do without you.”

The two stayed there for a few minutes before Natalie left and Gabriel got back to designing. Marinette reached over to pause the video feed, then looked at Adrien, who was staring numbly at the screen. 

“My own father tried to akumatized me.”

“Adrien…” Marinette said softly. He turned to look at her desperately. 

“My own father, Marinette! He was willing to  _ use _ me and turn me,  _ his own son _ , into a villain!” He stood to pace around the room. “Do you realize how messed up that is? At least before, I could say that he didn’t know he was hurting me because he didn’t know I was Chat Noir, but today he tried to akumatize me  _ knowing _ that I was his son. That’s not even counting all the times I’ve been actively targeted by akumas or even the times I was collateral damage. He  _ knows _ what he’s doing is hurting people, he knows it’s hurting  _ me _ and he’s still doing it!” Adrien paused, and looked at Marinette, “Do you think he even cares about me at all?”

Marinette opened and closed her mouth a few times. What was she supposed to say in this situation?

“I don’t know, Adrien,” She said tearfully. “I want to say that he’s your father, so of course he loves you, but...I’m sorry. I just don’t know.”

Adrien ran his hands through his hair, “Would you mind watching for akumas?”

Marinette nodded and moved to the chaise, allowing Adrien to sit down beside her and rest his head in her lap. She played with his hair and kept watch as he cried. At one point her parents had poked their heads in, but Marinette had simply shaken her head and they left quickly. It was pretty late by the time that Adrien wiped the tears off this face and transformed, promising to talk to her tomorrow. 

Marinette walked down to the kitchen, where her parents were busy cleaning up. When Sabine saw her, she threw open her arms and Marinette ran to her, crying in her mother’s arms. 

“Is Adrien already gone, sweetie?” She asked softly.

Marinette nodded into her mother’s chest. 

“Did he say what he was upset about?” Tom asked, “Is there any way we can help?”

Marinette took a deep breath, “Adrien’s father isn’t a good dad. He only sees Adrien about once a month and those times are usually just to scold him. It sucks and it’s part of the reason he sneaks out and comes here. Lately though… it's been getting worse, I think. If something happens...well, I don’t know, but if things keep going the way they are Adrien might not be safe at home anymore.”

Marinette’s parents looked at each other silently for a long minute, then led Marinette over to the kitchen table, where they all sat down. 

Tom placed his hand over Marinette’s, “What would you like us to do, sweetie?”

“I,” She hesitated, was she asking too much? “I’d like to register our family in the foster system. We don’t have to really do anything, if you don’t want to, but I want to make sure that Adrien has a safe place to go if he ever needs it. Does that make sense?”

Tom and Sabine shared a look before nodding. Sabine hugged her daughter, “Adrien is always welcome here. You’re a really good friend to him, Marinette.”

Tom nodded, “We’re really proud of you, sweetie.”

Marinette sniffed as she started to cry, “Thanks. You guys are amazing.”

Tom smiled, “Well, now that that’s decided, how about I make us some hot chocolate?”

Marinette laughed and nodded. Adrien would be ok. 

She would make sure of it. 


	11. Fruit for Thought

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our heroes adjust and plan.

Adrien had decided it was impossible to get a good night’s sleep the night after you cried your guts out. Or maybe it was just impossible to get a good night’s sleep the night after finding out your father was a supervillain who had knowingly tried to emotionally manipulate you and unknowingly tried to kill you. Either way, Adrien was fighting off a headache and had enough cover up under his eyes that he could practically feel it caking. 

“Yo, dude, you ok?” Nino laid a hand on his shoulder, but Adrien just grunted tiredly in response. He wasn’t sure he trusted words right now. 

“Oh Adrien!” Lila clung to his arm and placed the back of her hand against his forehead. “Are you sick? Maybe you should take the day off! I’d be happy to bring you your homework.”

Adrien hardly bothered to conceal his disgust as he pushed her away, “I”m fine,  _ Lila _ , I just didn’t sleep well last night.”

She pouted, “I'm just trying to help.”

Adrien sighed and rolled his eyes, “Well you can start by trusting me when I tell you I’m fine.”

Lila glared at him for a moment before smiling, “Of course, silly me! Well, I hope you get feeling better.”

“Alright class, settle down!” Miss Bustier stood up in front of the class and Lila slunk off to her seat in the back row. Adrien stared at the board, but wasn’t really absorbing anything until Marinette came rushing through the door five minutes later and placed a coffee and croissant in front of him before stumbling into her own seat. Nino raised an eyebrow at him, but Adrien just shrugged and gave Marinette a half-hearted smile, which she returned with a deadpan glare,  _ you don’t have to pretend you’re alright, you know. _

He let his smile fall as he turned back around and bit into the croissant. Definitely not as good as having a father who actually loved you, but Adrien figured it would have to do. He felt his phone buzz in his pocket and glanced at it under the table when Bustier turned to write something on the board. 

Marinette : Don’t worry about it. I’ll send you my notes later. 

Adrien nodded absently, knowing Marinette would be able to see the gesture, and allowed himself to space off. If Miss Bustier ever called on him to answer a question, he didn’t know, but he couldn’t really bring himself to care anyway.

He still wasn’t listening as he packed up his bag to go to lunch, at least until he heard Lila’s obnoxiously loud whisper, “Yeah, he texted me that Marinette was calling him all night asking for updates for something she submitted to Gabriel. I mean, I understand being anxious, I’ve struggled with an anxiety disorder for years, but I’m just saying her timing could be a bit better. 

Adrien grit his teeth as he could practically  _ feel _ Marinette freeze behind him. He took a deep breath. Now was  _ not _ the time to be akumatized.  _ Now was not the time to be akumatized _ . 

Marinette rushed past him, obviously pretending she hadn’t heard, even though she definitely had. Everyone had, judidng by the glares her classmates gave her as she ran. Adrien simply sighed and glared at Lila before rolling his eyes and following Marinette out the door. Maybe if she went to the bakery, she would bring him something back? He almost wished they could just arrest his father already so he could go where he wanted for lunch and finally ask Lila to leave him alone. 

Adrien’s eyes widened and he stopped in his tracks. If he and Marinette arrested his father...Hawkmoth wouldn’t be around to akumatize Lila. Plus, he, as the son of a supervillain, wouldn’t have any reputation left to protect by keeping silent any longer. Basically, once his father was in prison, there was literally nothing keeping him from exposing her and saving Marinette. 

For the first time since he’d seen the video yesterday, Adrien smiled sincerely. It  _ was  _ his job as Chat Noir to protect Ladybug, wasn’t it?

* * *

Marinette rubbed her eyes as she flipped through the new camera feeds. She’d suspected that Adriend wouldn’t be able to sleep well, but she hadn’t been expecting him to text her after school telling her that he and plagg had moved around the cameras in the middle of the night. Plagg had explored the secret entrance and discovered that there were actually two lairs, so of the five total cameras they had, Adrien had decided to put two in each lair and leave the one they’d already placed in Gabriel’s office.

One lair was just dark, she and Adrien didn’t know if it was even in use, but as much as she adjusted the quality of the second lair’s feed hoping the image would change, it never did. Emilie Agreste could have passed for snow white, complete with glass coffin, and Marinette was debating what she was going to say to Adrien. She hadn’t wanted them to be right about that part. 

She looked up at her skylight, normally Adrien would have come over by now, right? Had something happened? Had Gabriel discovered what was going on?

“Marinette!” Tikki flew into her face. “Stop panicking! Just text Adrien and ask him if he’s ok! You can even call if you need to hear his voice.”

Marinette took a deep breath, “You’re right Tikki,” she took out her phone, “I can just Ahhh!” she dropped her phone in shock as the skylight opened and Adrien dropped down.

“Sorry Marinette!” Adrien looked slightly panicked. “I didn’t mean to scare you!”

Marinette blinked a few times and shook her head, “It’s no grig beal, I mean it’s no big deal!” She sighed. “You were just later than usual and I was about to call you because I was panicking because I didn’t know if your father found out or if I was going to have to come rescue you and then we wouldn’t…”

Adrien gripped her shoulders to steady her, “I’m ok, Marinette! I’m sorry I’m late, I was just...working on a project.” 

Marinette looked at him suspiciously, but he just gave his best innocent smile. 

“Alright then,” she rolled her eyes, “keep your secrets.” She fiddled with her mouse for a long moment. “Umm...Adrien, about those camera feeds...”

Adrien sighed, “You mean my mother just lying there in a glass coffin? Yeah, Plagg already told me.”

Marinette gave a quiet breath of relief. She wouldn’t have to be the bearer of even more bad news, “I’m sorry.”

Adrein shrugged, “We figured it was a possibility. I just...I wish I knew how she got there, you know? Maybe it was something to do with the miraculous in the first place, or maybe she really did just get sick like Father said, but we won’t know until he’s behind bars. Speaking of which, we need to figure out how we’re gonna take him down, Milady.”

Marinette nodded, “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about a few potential strategies, it’s just that…”

Adrien tilted his head slightly, “That what?”

Marinette sighed, “It’s just that we need to decide if we’re going to be including any other miraculous holders in the plan.”

Adrien frowned, “Well Chloe’s out, this plan needs to actually be kept a secret, but why wouldn’t we include Carapace and Rena Rouge.”

Marinette groaned and hit her head against the desk, “It’s complicated.”

Adrien snorted unsympathetically, “Our life’s complicated Bugaboo, try again.”

“Renarougeandcarapacearealyaandnino.” She grumbled. 

Adrein raised an eyebrow at her, “Sorry, Bugaboo. Didn’t quite catch all that.”

She took a deep breath, “Nino and Alya are Carapace and Rena Rouge.”

Adrien’s eyes widened for a moment as he took that info in, then he scowled, “Those jerks! You trust them with miraculouses, but they won’t even have your back when Lila is obviously trying to sabotage you?”

Marinette shook her head, “They don’t know that I’m the one that gave them their miraculous. As far as they know, they’ve never given Ladybug and Chat Noir any reason to distrust them.”

“Doesn’t mean they couldn’t at least try to fact check what Lila says.” Adrien grumbled. “I don’t think we use them, Milady. If we can’t trust them to have our backs as civilians how can we trust them to have our backs as heroes?” He took in her unsure expression. “You don’t agree?”

Marinette bit her lip, “I do! It’s just...I really don’t know if we can do it without them.”

Adrien thought for a moment, “We could always try to find new holders?”

Marinette groaned, “But then we’d have to take the time to train them and there’s the potential that Alya and Nino would be akumatized over the whole thing, which is a disaster I’d really like to avoid if we can. Alya and Nino trust Ladybug and Chat, plus they already know how to use their powers.” Marinette huffed. “And if we include them, we can use the Ladyblog to our advantage.”

Adrien gestured for her to continue and she took a deep breath, “We’ll be the ones taking the miraculous as soon as Hawkmoth and Mayura are unmasked. If we’re not careful, it could come down to our word against theirs that they really were supervillains. But if we were to give Alya access to the camera feeds…”

Adrien smiled, “Then she could live stream the whole fight and there wouldn’t be any doubt. You really are so amazing, Marinette.”

Marinette blushed and looked away, “Oh, shut up.”

Adrien smirked, “Why should I Bugaboo? You’re the  _ cat’s meow. _ ”

Marinette rolled her eyes, “So should I pick up the fox and turtle tomorrow so we have them ready.”

Adrien pouted, “I don’t have to like it, do I?”

Marinette giggled and tapped his nose, “No, silly kitty, but you do need to be able to work with them. If not, we’ll never pull off what I have in mind.”

“Oh?” Adrien’s eyes lit up. “And what exactly is that?”


	12. Squeeze the Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taking down Hawkmoth.

Adrien and Marinette ran to the janitor’s closet as soon as the akuma alert sounded. Thankfully the school was being evacuated, so they didn’t look suspicious for running off, but they would need to find Alya and Nino before they got too close to the akuma. 

They transformed quickly and Chat paused with his hand on the door handle. 

“Kitty?” Ladybug put a hand on his shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

Chat let out a long breath, “It’s just...nothing’s going to be the same after today.”

“I know.” Ladybug said softly. “But at least it’ll all be over, right?”

Chat nodded, “But I’m going to be alone.”

“Look at me.” Ladybug said earnestly. “You are not going to be alone, Kitty. I will  _ never _ leave you, do you understand? You and me against the world, remember?”

Chat took a deep breath, “You and me against the world.”

Ladybug went up on her toes and kissed his cheek, “And don’t you forget it. Now let’s go fight a supervillain.”

* * *

Alya dragged Nino along by the hand as they ran toward the akuma. It was a big, ugly thing with wrecking balls for hands that was wreaking havoc downtown, apparently content with destruction of property until Ladybug and Chat Noir showed up. She hadn’t bothered to start recording yet, since she couldn’t actually see the akuma, so she didn’t have to come up with an excuse to end the stream when Ladybug and Chat Noir landed in front of them with miraculous boxes in their hands. 

“Alya Cesaire, Nino Lahiffe, these are the miraculouses of the fox and turtle, which grant the power of illusion and protection. When the mission is complete, you will return the miraculous to us. Do you accept?”

“As always, Ladydude!” 

Alya put the necklace on, “But I don’t really understand, this akuma seems pretty standard. Why do you need us?”

Ladybug glanced at Chat Noir, “Because we’re not going to be fighting the akuma.”

“What…?”

“Transform and we’ll explain on the way.” Chat said sharply. 

“Alright, no need to get your panties in a twist.” Alya replied, then leaned toward Nino, “I wonder who put bees in his bonnet?”

Nino shrugged, put on his bracelet, and grinned as he and Wayzz did their little handshake, “Hey little dude! You ready?” Wayzz nodded. “Alright then, Shell on!”

“Trixx, let’s pounce!”

“Alright.” Chat said. “Follow us.”

Rena and Carapace followed Chat and Ladybug in the opposite direction of the Akuma until they stopped and crouched down on the roof of the Agreste mansion.

“Umm, Ladydude?” Nino asked. “Why are we at Adrien’s place?”

Ladybug glanced at Chat, who nodded and turned away. There was just something so  _ off _ about Chat today that Rena couldn’t put her finger on. 

“We recently discovered that Gabriel Agreste is Hawkmoth.” Ladybug said. “We need your help to bring him down.”

“Adrien's pops? I knew he was evil, but…” 

“Does Adrien know?” Rena asked.

“Adrien didn’t have anything to do with this!” Chat growled.

“I didn’t say he did.” Rena said. “But if it’s his dad...does he know yet?”

Chat sighed, “Yeah, he knows. We put him someplace safe before we came and got you. Now can you two just shut up and listen to the plan?”

“Chat..” Ladybug warned.

Chat huffed, “Fine, I’ll be civil.”

Rena and Carapace exchanged a glance. What was up with him?

Ladybug turned to them and smiled, “Here’s the plan. We don’t only need Rena Rouge the hero, we need Alya Cesaire the ladyblogger.” She handed Rena a slip of paper with a series of links. “Those are links to the camera feeds we have set up in Gabriel’s office and one of his lairs. Can you set it up so you can live-stream the footage to the Ladyblog on your command? You might be able to do it from your flute, but it’s probably better to do it from your civilian phone, since that’s more familiar. We don’t want any technical difficulties.”

Alya nodded and detransformed. She typed in the links and started syncing them to the Ladyblog, “Do you want me to start streaming them right now?”

Chat shook his head, “We’ll tell you when to make each camera live. It’s possible to do them separately, right?”

Alya nodded, “It’ll take me a minute or so to set up, since I’m not used to doing multiple live streams at a time, but don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”

Ladyblog smiled, “You’re the best, Alya!”

Alya smiled at the praise and worked for a few more minutes until she had everything set up, ignoring all the messages from people wondering why Ladybug and Chat Noir hadn’t shown up yet, “I should probably send out a message to my viewers real quick before I transform so they know to be watching. Would that alright?”

Chat shrugged, “You’re the expert.”

Alya nodded and stood against a blank chimney so none of the heroes were in the shot and no one would be able to tell exactly where she was, “Hey peeps! The one and only ladyblogger here, live from Paris. I know you’re all wondering what’s going on, but just know that there’s going to be a very special live-stream in a few minutes, so stay tuned! Ladyblog out!”

She ended the video and transformed, keeping her civilian phone in a secret pocket beneath the tail of her costume, “There, now Paris is watching. What next?”

“Make the streams from the lair live.” Ladybug said.

“Not the office?” 

Chat shook his head, “Not yet. I’ll give you a thumbs up when we’re ready for that one.”

Ladybug smirked as Alya typed the command to make the feeds live, “Alright, let’s go have a chat with Mayura.”

* * *

Natalie refreshed her tablet one more time before striding over to Emilie’s painting. She had to warn Gabriel not to detransform, then they’d find a way to take care of those pesky cameras. They’d also have to find some way to punish the ladyblog for publishing that footage so something like this didn’t happen again. 

Suddenly, there was a crash and Ladybug crashed through the window of Gabriel’s office and knocked the tablet out of Natalie’s hand, “Not so fast, Mayura. Give us your miraculous!”

Ladybug threw the tablet to the ground and stomped on it so Natalie wouldn’t be able to tell when the office footage went live. Since Natalie didn’t know there was a camera in the office and Gabriel didn’t know there was a camera in the lair, the villains wouldn’t bother to hide their transformations. Or at least, that’s what Ladybug was counting on. 

The other heroes landed in the office as Ladybug as Natalie stared each other down. Chat glanced at his partner before discreetly putting one hand behind his back and giving Rena the thumbs up to publish the office feed.

Natalie glared at Ladybug, “You kids don’t know what you’re up against. He won’t stop, his reasons…”

“Yeah, we know all about his  _ reasons _ .” Chat hissed. “But as noble as he thinks they are, they still aren’t any excuse for terrorism. Now give us the peacock.”

Natalie stared at them all coldly, “Dusuu, Spread my Feathers.”

Mayura charged Ladybug, but Chat stepped in front of her and grabbed Mayura by the arms, flipping her over his head. Ladybug tried to grab onto Mayura’s ankles with her yoyo, but Mayura flipped in midair to land behind her. Unfortunately for her, the fight was four on one and she was now backed against the wall. 

Mayura glanced at the heroes before pulling a feather from her fan and clenching it in her fist. Dark magic bubbled around it as she blew, but Ladybug didn’t bother to see where it was headed before catching it in her yoyo and purifying it. 

“Oh come on dude.” Carapace laughed when Natalie looked surprised. “You didn’t really think we were going to let you make a sentimonster, did you?”

Mayura charged at him desperately, but Carapace simply aimed his shield at her face. She dodged the blow, which unfortunately left her wide open for Rena to hit her in the gut with her flute. Before Mayura could recover, Ladybug wrapped her in her yoyo string. 

“Chat, if you’d do the honors.”

“Glady Milady.” Chat was deadly serious as he plucked the peacock from her shirt, and put it in his pocket, forcing her to detransform. “Rena, take Natalie outside. The police should be here by now. They’ll take care of her.”

Rena nodded and grabbed Natlie roughly by the arm as Ladybug let go of her. Natalie tried to put up a fight as she was dragged away, but she started coughing once she didn’t have the strength of her transformation to sustain her. 

Chat and Ladybug walked up to the painting and Chat entered the code he’d memorized from the footage they’d gathered in the past few weeks. There was a mechanical whirring as the painting and part of the wall behind it swung out, revealing a stairway winding upward to Hawkmoth’s upper lair. Carapace followed them as they tiptoed up the stairs until they reached a door at the top. 

As Ladybug was about to open it, she glanced at Chat, “Are you gonna be ok?” 

“No.” Chat said tightly, “But I’m ready to fight. Like you said, this’ll all be over soon. And I’ll always have you, Milady.”

Ladybug smiled and nodded, pushing open the door. Hawkmoth was standing in a patch of light from the open window and the butterflies on the floor rustled their wings as the heroes stepped into the room. 

“What is it, Natalie?” Hawkmoth snapped, “Can’t you see I’m busy?” 

“I’m afraid your girlfriend’s kinda busy right now.” Chat said. As he predicted, that pissed Gabriel off and he whirled around to stare at the heroes with rage. Good. 

“Are you going to come quietly HawkDude or do we get the honor of punching you in the face?” Carapace asked. 

A butterfly outline appeared around his face, “Destructor! Change of plans, Ladybug and Chat Noir are here, so come to me  _ now! _ ”

“I guess that’s our answer.” 

Hawkmoth growled and rushed at them with his sword-cane, so Chat ran forward to meet him, wielding his staff like a sword. Hawkmoth seemed to be a little more skilled than Chat was, but he also had to deal with Ladybug trying to trip him and Carapace throwing his shield at him. After a few minutes, as he sidestepped to dodge Ladybug’s yoyo, he stepped right into the path of Carapace’s shield, which knocked him to the ground. 

Ladybug was about to tie him up when the wall exploded under the force of a wrecking ball, distracting the heroes long enough for Hawkmoth to get to his feet.

“Don’t worry about this guy, dudes, I’ll take care of it.” Carapace yelled. “Shelter!”

A large green sphere surrounded the akuma, who started beating it with it’s fists, causing it to shudder, but thankfully the shield held. Chat nodded at Carapace before turning back to Hawkmoth. Holding Shelter was going to take too much concentration for Carapace to help them now. 

“I think it’s about time we use a little luck, Milady.”

Ladybug nodded, “Lucky Charm!”

“A blanket?” Chat asked. “Is that a sign that we should  _ wrap things up? _ ”

Ladybug smiled, “I think that’s the first time you’ve punned this entire fight.”

Chat stopped for a moment, then smiled, “Maybe it’s just because you’re so  _ comforting.” _

“Enough!” Hawkmoth yelled. “Ladybug, Chat Noir, give me your miraculous! Maybe if you surrender now, I’ll give them back after I’m through with them.”

“Even if we believed you, which we don’t,” Chat said, “the price of bringing back the dead is too high. You  _ know _ that Hawkmoth. Just think for a moment, do you really believe your wife would be happy with what you’re doing? Emilie wouldn’t want you to kill someone just so she could live!”

“You know nothing about her!” Hawkmoth growled. “Emilie and I talked about this when she started feeling the effects of the Peacock. This was  _ always _ the plan!”

Chat froze, “S-she  _ knew _ ?”

“Chat! Watch out!”

Hawkmoth lunged, his sword pointed at Chat’s heart, but Ladybug leaped forward to take the blow, knocking Hawkmoth to the ground as she landed on top of him.

“Ladybug!”

Ladybug rolled off Hawkmoth, his sword tangled harmlessly in the blanket, “Come on, Kitty, do your thing.” 

Chat smiled, “Chataclysm!”

He touched a single finger to the floor and a large crack appeared before the floor beneath Hawkmoth collapsed, trapping him up to the waist. Chat rushed forward and punched him in the nose and was rearing back for another punch when Ladybug rushed forward and held him back, “It’s over, Chat.”

“Not quite,” Hawkmoth growled as he tried to pry himself from the floor, but Ladybug just pinned his arms to his sides and plucked the brooch from beneath his chin. 

“No.” She said. “It’s over.”

“Umm, dudes?” Carapace called. Chat and Ladybug turned to see large cracks appearing in the shield surrounding the akuma. “I think we’re out of time.”

Destructor slammed his wrecking balls into the shield one last time as it shattered like glass. Chat looked between Ladybug and Gabriel, “You stay here and make sure he can’t get away, Milady. Carapace and I can take care of him.”

“Oh, don’t forget about me!” Rena called out as she appeared at the top of the stairs. “Natalie is safely in custody, so I’m ready to fight!”

“Good! Quick! Cast illusions of all of us so Destructor doesn’t know which ones are real!”

Rena played a few notes and the room was filled with duplicates as Destructor waved his arms around trying to destroy as many as he could. Ladybug caught Chat’s eye and glanced down toward the blanket that had fallen to the floor. Chat nodded and scooped up the blanket, flinging it in Destructor’s face. 

“Carapace! Use your shield to destroy the chain on his right wrecking ball, it’s a slightly different color than the rest of him!”

“Will do Ladydude!” Carapace slammed his shield into the chain a few times until it snapped and the akuma came flying out.

“I’ll hold onto Hawkmoth, Ladybug.” Rena ran over and grabbed Gabriel’s arms. “Your turn.”

Ladybug nodded and flung her yoyo, “Time to de-evilize!”

Dark magic bubbled around Destructor as Ladybug purified the akuma, revealing a little boy with a broken toy truck, “What? Ladybug?”

They were interrupted by a chorus of beeps. Carapace grabbed the blanket and tossed it to Ladybug, who immediately threw it in the air, “Miraculous Ladybug!”

Chat pulled Gabriel roughly to his feet as the floor repaired beneath him, “Come on, Gabriel, time to go.” 

They all jumped out the large window of the lair and landed in front of Officer Roger who was waiting for them outside along with a fleet of police cars. 

“Officer, this is…”

“We know Ladybug, we were watching the stream.” Roger smiled. “We’ll take care of things from here. You four are about to detransform.”

Ladybug nodded gratefully as Roger handcuffed Gabriel and forced him into the car. Another round of beeps reminded them of how little time they had left and Chat led the way to the nearest alley. Carapace’s transformation fell as soon as they were out of sight. 

“That was crazy, dudes.” Nino said as he handed the bracelet back. “Not at all what I expected this morning.”

Alya detransformed as well and paused before handing the necklace back, “Will we ever see you guys again?”

Chat and Ladybug looked at each other as their miraculous beeped again. 

“I’m sure we’ll run into each other eventually.” Chat said finally. 

Alya and Nino nodded as Chat and Ladybug jumped onto the rooftops and ran as fast as they could. They reached Marinette’s roof right as their transformations ran out. Marinette held open the sky light for Adrien, then dropped down after him. 

As soon as she landed, Adrien wrapped his arms around her and started sobbing. 


End file.
